Your a 16yr old driving a E90 I dont think you get the big picture here.

HELL yea he is at fault. He was sitting on his ass in your state doing nothing when people and kids were and are still dying. We all know he cant control the weather, but he should have planned better then this. This is sad and he is at fault!

It would seem that many of the people who support President Bush do so blindly, as though they believe that anyone who criticises him is simply doing it becaue he is a liberal church hating pro-choice homosexual whose critisim is void because no one who espouses such "liberal Godless non-sense" would have an opinion worth hearing.

Honestly, look at the facts the posts made so far have made excellent points.

1. President Bush was sitting on his arse when he should have been preparing the nation to respond to the damage from a CLASS 5 hurricane. His vacation was 2 frickin months long. Soldiers are dying, Americans are drowning and he is frickin trimmin the bushes in Crawford. :mad: His own father made the same mistake in delaying federal response after hurricane camille.

I guess W can't help but try to walk in his daddy's boots-even when the footsteps made were mistakes.

It would seem that many of the people who support President Bush do so blindly, as though they believe that anyone who criticises him is simply doing it becaue he is a liberal church hating pro-choice homosexual whose critisim is void because no one who espouses such "liberal Godless non-sense" would have an opinion worth hearing.

Honestly, look at the facts the posts made so far have made excellent points.

1. President Bush was sitting on his arse when he should have been preparing the nation to respond to the damage from a CLASS 5 hurricane. His vacation was 2 frickin months long. Soldiers are dying, Americans are drowning and he is frickin trimmin the bushes in Crawford. :mad: His own father made the same mistake in delaying federal response after hurricane camille.

I guess W can't help but try to walk in his daddy's boots-even when the footsteps made were mistakes.

September 3, 2005
United States of Shame
By MAUREEN DOWD
Stuff happens.

And when you combine limited government with incompetent government, lethal stuff happens.

America is once more plunged into a snake pit of anarchy, death, looting, raping, marauding thugs, suffering innocents, a shattered infrastructure, a gutted police force, insufficient troop levels and criminally negligent government planning. But this time it's happening in America.

W. drove his budget-cutting Chevy to the levee, and it wasn't dry. Bye, bye, American lives. "I don't think anyone anticipated the breach of the levees," he told Diane Sawyer.

Shirt-sleeves rolled up, W. finally landed in Hell yesterday and chuckled about his wild boozing days in "the great city" of N'Awlins. He was clearly moved. "You know, I'm going to fly out of here in a minute," he said on the runway at the New Orleans International Airport, "but I want you to know that I'm not going to forget what I've seen." Out of the cameras' range, and avoided by W., was a convoy of thousands of sick and dying people, some sprawled on the floor or dumped on baggage carousels at a makeshift M*A*S*H unit inside the terminal.

Why does this self-styled "can do" president always lapse into such lame "who could have known?" excuses.

Who on earth could have known that Osama bin Laden wanted to attack us by flying planes into buildings? Any official who bothered to read the trellis of pre-9/11 intelligence briefs.

Who on earth could have known that an American invasion of Iraq would spawn a brutal insurgency, terrorist recruiting boom and possible civil war? Any official who bothered to read the C.I.A.'s prewar reports.

Who on earth could have known that New Orleans's sinking levees were at risk from a strong hurricane? Anybody who bothered to read the endless warnings over the years about the Big Easy's uneasy fishbowl.

In June 2004, Walter Maestri, emergency management chief for Jefferson Parish, fretted to The Times-Picayune in New Orleans: "It appears that the money has been moved in the president's budget to handle homeland security and the war in Iraq, and I suppose that's the price we pay. Nobody locally is happy that the levees can't be finished, and we are doing everything we can to make the case that this is a security issue for us."

Not only was the money depleted by the Bush folly in Iraq; 30 percent of the National Guard and about half its equipment are in Iraq.

Ron Fournier of The Associated Press reported that the Army Corps of Engineers asked for $105 million for hurricane and flood programs in New Orleans last year. The White House carved it to about $40 million. But President Bush and Congress agreed to a $286.4 billion pork-filled highway bill with 6,000 pet projects, including a $231 million bridge for a small, uninhabited Alaskan island.

Just last year, Federal Emergency Management Agency officials practiced how they would respond to a fake hurricane that caused floods and stranded New Orleans residents. Imagine the feeble FEMA's response to Katrina if they had not prepared.

Michael Brown, the blithering idiot in charge of FEMA - a job he trained for by running something called the International Arabian Horse Association - admitted he didn't know until Thursday that there were 15,000 desperate, dehydrated, hungry, angry, dying victims of Katrina in the New Orleans Convention Center.

Was he sacked instantly? No, our tone-deaf president hailed him in Mobile, Ala., yesterday: "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job."

It would be one thing if President Bush and his inner circle - Dick Cheney was vacationing in Wyoming; Condi Rice was shoe shopping at Ferragamo's on Fifth Avenue and attended "Spamalot" before bloggers chased her back to Washington; and Andy Card was off in Maine - lacked empathy but could get the job done. But it is a chilling lack of empathy combined with a stunning lack of efficiency that could make this administration implode.

When the president and vice president rashly shook off our allies and our respect for international law to pursue a war built on lies, when they sanctioned torture, they shook the faith of the world in American ideals.

When they were deaf for so long to the horrific misery and cries for help of the victims in New Orleans - most of them poor and black, like those stuck at the back of the evacuation line yesterday while 700 guests and employees of the Hyatt Hotel were bused out first - they shook the faith of all Americans in American ideals. And made us ashamed.

September 3, 2005
United States of Shame
By MAUREEN DOWD
Stuff happens.

And when you combine limited government with incompetent government, lethal stuff happens.

America is once more plunged into a snake pit of anarchy, death, looting, raping, marauding thugs, suffering innocents, a shattered infrastructure, a gutted police force, insufficient troop levels and criminally negligent government planning. But this time it's happening in America.

W. drove his budget-cutting Chevy to the levee, and it wasn't dry. Bye, bye, American lives. "I don't think anyone anticipated the breach of the levees," he told Diane Sawyer.

Shirt-sleeves rolled up, W. finally landed in Hell yesterday and chuckled about his wild boozing days in "the great city" of N'Awlins. He was clearly moved. "You know, I'm going to fly out of here in a minute," he said on the runway at the New Orleans International Airport, "but I want you to know that I'm not going to forget what I've seen." Out of the cameras' range, and avoided by W., was a convoy of thousands of sick and dying people, some sprawled on the floor or dumped on baggage carousels at a makeshift M*A*S*H unit inside the terminal.

Why does this self-styled "can do" president always lapse into such lame "who could have known?" excuses.

Who on earth could have known that Osama bin Laden wanted to attack us by flying planes into buildings? Any official who bothered to read the trellis of pre-9/11 intelligence briefs.

Who on earth could have known that an American invasion of Iraq would spawn a brutal insurgency, terrorist recruiting boom and possible civil war? Any official who bothered to read the C.I.A.'s prewar reports.

Who on earth could have known that New Orleans's sinking levees were at risk from a strong hurricane? Anybody who bothered to read the endless warnings over the years about the Big Easy's uneasy fishbowl.

In June 2004, Walter Maestri, emergency management chief for Jefferson Parish, fretted to The Times-Picayune in New Orleans: "It appears that the money has been moved in the president's budget to handle homeland security and the war in Iraq, and I suppose that's the price we pay. Nobody locally is happy that the levees can't be finished, and we are doing everything we can to make the case that this is a security issue for us."

Not only was the money depleted by the Bush folly in Iraq; 30 percent of the National Guard and about half its equipment are in Iraq.

Ron Fournier of The Associated Press reported that the Army Corps of Engineers asked for $105 million for hurricane and flood programs in New Orleans last year. The White House carved it to about $40 million. But President Bush and Congress agreed to a $286.4 billion pork-filled highway bill with 6,000 pet projects, including a $231 million bridge for a small, uninhabited Alaskan island.

Just last year, Federal Emergency Management Agency officials practiced how they would respond to a fake hurricane that caused floods and stranded New Orleans residents. Imagine the feeble FEMA's response to Katrina if they had not prepared.

Michael Brown, the blithering idiot in charge of FEMA - a job he trained for by running something called the International Arabian Horse Association - admitted he didn't know until Thursday that there were 15,000 desperate, dehydrated, hungry, angry, dying victims of Katrina in the New Orleans Convention Center.

Was he sacked instantly? No, our tone-deaf president hailed him in Mobile, Ala., yesterday: "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job."

It would be one thing if President Bush and his inner circle - Dick Cheney was vacationing in Wyoming; Condi Rice was shoe shopping at Ferragamo's on Fifth Avenue and attended "Spamalot" before bloggers chased her back to Washington; and Andy Card was off in Maine - lacked empathy but could get the job done. But it is a chilling lack of empathy combined with a stunning lack of efficiency that could make this administration implode.

When the president and vice president rashly shook off our allies and our respect for international law to pursue a war built on lies, when they sanctioned torture, they shook the faith of the world in American ideals.

When they were deaf for so long to the horrific misery and cries for help of the victims in New Orleans - most of them poor and black, like those stuck at the back of the evacuation line yesterday while 700 guests and employees of the Hyatt Hotel were bused out first - they shook the faith of all Americans in American ideals. And made us ashamed.

1. The mechanics of evacuation are up to the governor: The governor screwed up, not Bush
2. Saying that building more levees follows the same logic that the argument that Bush "could have" stopped 9/11: That follows the same logic that we "could have" prevented Pearl Harbor
Retrospect is 20/20
Why are you complaining that it's Bush's fault? Why aren't you trying to aid those who need it? Partisan politics have a time and place, and this isn't it.

My point of view is this: if a nation's leader cannot fix, remedy, or assist a national emergency efficiently, then the country has a serious problem. Certainly, the are others at fault, but he's the big Kahuna, the main man...
It's a daunting task yes, but you gotta do it. People need help and they need it now.

What Kanye did was pathetic. If he wants to say things like that, he should put it in his music, not say it during a telethon. It was completely not the right thing to do during a time like this. He is going off ranting about the president, like Bush could do anything about it. People need to begin to understand that the president is not who runs this country, he can only do what everyone else in Washington wants to do, so blame the government, but don't blame one person. And who the hell is Kanye to complain about racism and black people's needs in a time like this anyway? EVERYONE is suffering in New Orleans right now, but in his little rant he seems to only think black people are the ones suffering. He's blaming others for being racist, but I think he needs to take a look at himself. He seems to have a lot of hatred and racism inside of him, and he let it out at the one of the worst possible moments. His new CD is not as good as his last one, btw.

I think I just got dumber by reading this post.
#1-Kanye or any other entertainer sound like complete morons whenever they open their mouths about politics. No one wants to hear them speak about anything except music or acting or whatever they do; they have no credibility in any other areas.

#2-Bush-bashers have the right idea: Bush is not capable of the presidency because he is NOT CONSERVATIVE ENOUGH. 8,000 people pour over the borders every day and use our medical facilities and schools and we all pay for-the gardeners, landscapers, busboys and day workers aren't paying taxes. There is virtually no manufacturing going on in the US anymore. We fight wars on prime time TV and don't ever finish a job. And, worst of all he entertains these accusations of racism(Kanye) and other rediculous claims(Sheehan).

#3- Its not Bush's fault that NO is below sea level. It is also not his fault that the people of NO are acting like complete savages, animals, children, whatever you want to call them. Both the local and state governments dropped the ball on this hurricane. It was their responsibility to respond first.

Some of you complaining about the response are the same people who get pissed in line at McDonald's because you had to wait 5 minutes for your food.

Most of you seem to have a complete lack of comprehension of how state and local gov'ts work as it relates to the federal gov't.

In the last 6 years it has been democrats and people on the left who constantly run their mouths and continously talk out of their asses about things they have no clue. While you complain and bitch and moan and bitch and moan most americans are out there making it happen, while you bitch and moan and point fingers and assign blame. Good job..you are truly great americans.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Monacoblue

#3- Its not Bush's fault that NO is below sea level. It is also not his fault that the people of NO are acting like complete savages, animals, children, whatever you want to call them. Both the local and state governments dropped the ball on this hurricane. It was their responsibility to respond first.

This is painfully obvious to many americans. People who understand how gov't works. This is not obvious to americans who have stickers "anyone but bush" on their cars. Instead of stepping up and putting politics aside, they cheer idiots like kanye west and michael moore. THat is what embarreses america...no one even mentioned the amazing efforts of the armed forces yesterday. I guess they just appeared out of the clear blue sky and they all mobilized in 4 hours to show that kind of effort. You "americans' Make me sick...and you are the ones that the world is really laughing about. You cannot put your own hate aside to help your fellow american..really fkn sad!

Some of you complaining about the response are the same people who get pissed in line at McDonald's because you had to wait 5 minutes for your food.

Most of you seem to have a complete lack of comprehension of how state and local gov'ts work as it relates to the federal gov't.

In the last 6 years it has been democrats and people on the left who constantly run their mouths and continously talk out of their asses about things they have no clue. While you complain and bitch and moan and bitch and moan most americans are out there making it happen, while you bitch and moan and point fingers and assign blame. Good job..you are truly great americans.

This is painfully obvious to many americans. People who understand how gov't works. This is not obvious to americans who have stickers "anyone but bush" on their cars. Instead of stepping up and putting politics aside, they cheer idiots like kanye west and michael moore. THat is what embarreses america...no one even mentioned the amazing efforts of the armed forces yesterday. I guess they just appeared out of the clear blue sky and they all mobilized in 4 hours to show that kind of effort. You "americans' Make me sick...and you are the ones that the world is really laughing about. You cannot put your own hate aside to help your fellow american..really fkn sad!

Finally!!!

I have been watching this thread since it began. I waited till now to respond because I wanted to see how long it would take for someone to get this right.

Nikki, Monaco and ninja nailed it. Thank you folks for your perspective on this insanity.

Bush-bashers, bigots, haters and doom and gloomers, your rants have become boring.

Clearly the response was inadequate to meet the needs of all the displaced people. The responsibility however falls on the local government for not providing for the needs of its people by:

a) building levies to withstand catagory 5 hurricanes long ago. (this partisan nonsense that money was diverted to fund the war effort is just that, this problem existed long before the war or 9/11)

b) preparing to mobilize first-responders when the magnitude of the storm and its likelihood of hitting New Orleans became known.

c) calling for mandatory evacuation of the city and outlying areas during the 12-24 hours before the hurricane hit

d) at the very least the basic necessities of life, food, clean drinking water and elimination facilities should have been waiting for people when they were directed into the superdome

These were the minimum responsibilities of the local government.

Congress appropriated and President Bush signed off on ten billion dollars in aid to help these people, which they will need and more. This occured within days of the event, not too shabby for the federal government.

This national catastrophe is being used by the opposition to this administration simply to make political hay and I find it disgraceful.

Clearly the response was inadequate to meet the needs of all the displaced people. The responsibility however falls on the local government for not providing for the needs of its people by:

a) building levies to withstand catagory 5 hurricanes long ago. (this partisan nonsense that money was diverted to fund the war effort is just that, this problem existed long before the war or 9/11)

b) preparing to mobilize first-responders when the magnitude of the storm and its likelihood of hitting New Orleans became known.

c) calling for mandatory evacuation of the city and outlying areas during the 12-24 hours before the hurricane hit

d) at the very least the basic necessities of life, food, clean drinking water and elimination facilities should have been waiting for people when they were directed into the superdome

These were the minimum responsibilities of the local government.

Congress appropriated and President Bush signed off on ten billion dollars in aid to help these people, which they will need and more. This occured within days of the event, not too shabby for the federal government.

This national catastrophe is being used by the opposition to this administration simply to make political hay and I find it disgraceful.